The invention pertains to a microtome knife holder for adjustably and firmly holding a microtome knife.
A microtome with a knife holder, for holding the cutting edge of a knife in a vertical position, whereby the knife can be adjusted on three axes which are perpendicular to each other, is described in German Auslegeschrift No. 21 43 529 published Aug. 30, 1971. The microtome has a carriage, i.e., the carrier for a specimen to be sectioned, which is moved vertically up and down. This structure is very practical for sectioning soft and small specimens because only minor cutting forces are required and it is necessary to only produce sections of limited length.
A microtome of the general structure referenced is provided with a cantilevered knife blade, i.e, the blade is supported by only one end, and is commonly utilized in the preparation of sections of froxen relatively soft body tissue.
However, when cutting hard and large specimens, such as for microscopic examination of metallurgical specimens or bony body tissue it is very important that the microtome be capable of enabling the use of cutting forces of a high magnitude and also that relatively long sections can be produced.
In addition prior art microtomes require mounting of knives of different lengths when sectioning specimens of different sizes, whereas the present invention enables the selective adjustment of the effective cutting or sectioning blade length.